Certainty of an Existence Beyond Death

What is Beyond Death?

How did those early religious writers from around the world know with such a certainty that there was an existence beyond death? What is required to reach such an eternal life, and what is this after-death world like? Most of those early writers told how they knew and how to get there, but they seldom described what the after world is like.

The ancient writings are readily available and are generally published or supported by the religions that developed around the writings and the early teachers. The problem with reading these documents is that the modern reader has been preconditioned with modern interpretations of what death is like that make the reading very confusing.

A. The general modern view of death according to the major Christian religions can be described by the following statements.

1. The knowledge of what happens after death is obtained by individuals who are assumed to have experienced death in some form and then returned to life.

2. After death, an individual is presumed to enter heaven (generally a world of continual obeisance and tranquility).

3. Heaven, however, is only open to those who have obeyed the rules given by the correct religion.

B. The common view of the general Hindu beliefs or of the believers in reincarnation can be given by the following statements.

1. The knowledge of what happens after death is obtained by individuals who are assumed to have remembered prior existences.

2. After death, an individual enters a world that is a continuation of the past life in terms of the basic direction taken in the last world, generally assumed to be improving or degrading.

3. To attain a superior world, the individual must have adhered to and mastered religious teachings.

C. Perhaps the belief with the largest number of adherents can be described by the following statements.

1. The after death world is extrapolated from experiences gained in life.

2. Following death, a person without sufficient advancement in life may be punished by returning to relive the life just lived or perhaps an even more painful life.

3. Individuals who have exerted themselves in living this life will find the extreme comfort in sinking into oblivion or their eternal rest and become merged into the entire universe.

4. The state of oblivion is assured by learning to find it in the present life by the loss of personal identity and the merger with or conformance to the outer world.

D. The above beliefs can now be compared with a condensed version of the answers as found within the early pre-institutional writings of the major religions which can be easily verified.

1. The experiences of a future existence following death is reported by those who have experienced the ability to create and change worlds in their immediate life.

2. Death can only be understood by looking at the past and present rather than the future.

3. The individual must find the inner power to create desired changes in hisr or her personal world in this life. The individual must know what to seek for, how to seek, and how to find it.

4. The world obtained after death of the body must have been created and sought for before physical death.

All of the above descriptions of what happens after death and the methods to find it can be seen to be related to what an individual experiences or does in life. If an individual experiences a growth or evolution in life then death leads to a further evolution. If an individual experiences a decrease in experiencing the world, then death leads to a further diminution of consciousness. If an individual attempts to conform to the outer world and its demands, then death likewise is experienced as the complete subjection of the self to the ruling power of the next world. The world existing after death is almost always perceived (or hoped to be) as the continuation or fulfillment of life. If a heaven is desired after death, then a heaven must be first found in the present life.

Proving the Existence of Life Beyond Death

Proving the existence of a life after death is as easy or as difficult as proving tomorrow.

What will tomorrow bring? It is quite probable that what individuals will predict will correspond to their ideas of what the beyond-life world will be. There are those individuals who look forward to tomorrow with excitement and energy for the wonderful things that will occur. There are those who do not look forward to tomorrow but have the resigned acceptance of doing whatever they might be required to do. There are those who see tomorrow as just another step closer to retirement or security and separation from problems and challenges. Then there are a few others who see tomorrow as an unknown step deeper into their own heaven on earth which they share with a few others.

As one matures and experiences life, there is the realization that to some extent one can control the direction the future world and life will take, but not the details. This may start with the awareness of ‘bad days’ when everything will go wrong and does. It may start with the strong desire to accomplish something, and then gradually the way to reach the goal becomes manifest even though it generally was completely unexpected. Gradually some mature individuals gain a faith in the outcome of their futures and know that what they set their hearts to do will become real. This is generally described as finding an inner fire, light or strong feeling in the gut about the ‘rightness’ of the direction to be taken. It is perhaps because of this sense of rightness that the Bible called these individuals the righteous. Because of the inner fire and light that is seen to illuminate the surrounding world, other cultures considered it rather as a developed sense of seeing. Such individuals were called enlightened.

One of the interesting comments that was made about these enlightened souls is that they do not taste of death or never die.

How can this be?

One of the evidences of what we really are is the recognition that we do not grow older in some inner real sense. If you are eighty years old, the inner you is still no older than you could have considered yourself to be at a much lower age such as forty. When this sensation of agelessness occurs, there is also the frightening sensation of not belonging to the body and perhaps not even to your own experiences or brain. The ancients would have described this as the separation of the spirit (mind) and soul (conditioned brain). Some individuals also experience this on contemplating the infinite night sky or their own death. Some Eastern meditation practices are designed to bring about this separation of mind and brain so that you can perceive yourself without the accouterments of your body and brain.

Another common experience of the spirit is with the continuity of the self. This is found during dreams where you might be able to fly and exist in the presence of individuals you have never met and with challenges never faced in your normal life. No matter how unusual the dream, it is still you, the inner observing self, or the spirit.

This unchanging continuous self is also unbounded in that it includes the surrounding world. There is a connection between the objects or action in the world you are in and the self. You cannot separate yourself from the world at this level of being. Whatever world you happen to be in, whether dream, nightmare, fever, intoxication, near death, or love, your continuous self identifies with it and is a part of it. The observed outer world reflects the inner feelings and vice versa. When this is recognized, then the similarity of your ‘bad day’ can be seen to be within this same space or type of world. The bad day is like a dream in that you may know that it is unreasonable, yet you cannot escape the outer world. Both your inner and outer self or your mind and physical brain and body are perceived to be fused together with the world.

Many individuals become aware of how they can set the physical body up for obtaining different worlds. For instance, many go to sleep with the strong knowledge that they will waken in the morning into another world that is without the strife of today, for instance. Some individuals are able to shape their dreams by the same process. This capability is generally connected with maturity and an inquiring resourceful brain. The brain finally recognizes that it cannot directly control the perception of the outer world yet knows that if it sets up an expectation for a particular world, that it will probably happen. Many very successful people describe their success as being due to a continual dedication and expectancy for reaching that success, over years if needed. They also report that even though they set the direction of travel or their ultimate goal, they cannot control the details of steps of reaching the goal. That seems to be determined by some greater supportive power.

An example of reaching a different world can be given with being in the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ day. The state of the mind is easily remembered in that there is a certainty with no doubts that the next moments will be good or bad. Any desire to change your world has no effect and cannot change that certainty or expectation. The existence of an expectation is, however, recognized as coming forth from something deep within the self and beyond the brain. The source is generally described as coming forth from the mind or inner spirit rather than the conscious thinking brain.

Individuals who manage to create an expectation or dedication to change their world describe it as starting with the relinquishing of desires and thoughts or the normal brain processes. The next step is the visualization of the expected world followed by the faith that the world will be reached. A simple example is remembering a name. One may try and try to remember a name and know that the name is at the tip of the tongue, yet it cannot be produced. However, one learns to expect the name to come forth in its own time, and it does. One first sets the direction or goal and then has implicit faith that it will be obtained. The terms of setting your goal and having faith are, of course, fundamental religious terms and found in living a full, responsible and responsive life.

A few individuals have learned that they can include others in a created or sought for world. This is first experienced to a small degree within a group that has a clear goal to be reached that everyone agrees upon. If no one is left in charge, then many times, the individuals in the groups find that they anticipate what others are going to do and the whole group becomes highly synchronized as if there was one director constantly controlling the action of each person.

A higher degree of oneness in a created world is found with some lovers who rather than seeking personal pleasure, attempt to find a deeper relationship or union, time after time. The continual working for a closer union leads gradually to the formation of new bodies and minds that become heavenly to the lovers. In such cases the relationship keeps intensifying rather than decreasing as within most relationships.

As the power of the spirit is found and allowed to ‘interfere’ with or supplement the life experiences, there comes the realization that all is a product of the spirit. The spirit is then known to be eternal and unchanging, and hence there is no such thing as death. Instead, what is sought for and expected is always obtained.